I have been able to learn so much from the Book of Mormon and it is something that has changed my life forever

    Well, the weather has taken a turn for the wetter and it has cooled off a lot. It has been any where from 16-21 degrees (Celsius) all week! This week has also been a lot of fun too! Elder Christiansen and I really get along well and have been having a lot of fun together but still do get missionary work done. We were able to teach Axcel who is 15 and his mom is a member but he was never Baptized so we have been working with him over the last 4 weeks and he has come to church the last 3 weeks and he has made some good friends in the young mens too. We went over to have dinner with them this last Tuesday and had a really good lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we were able to set a baptismal date with him for October 8th and it was so good because since he has been coming to church and the young men have befriended him he has liked coming to church a lot more.  He is one of the only people that we are teaching that does not have a commandment problem so we are really trying to focus on helping him to read and pray daily  to help strengthen his testimony.

     We were also able to teach James a couple times this week and he is doing so good! He is not going to get baptized this weekend but on the 25th he will be! He quit smoking and we are going to help him prepare to be baptized and he is doing so well! He has been reading from the Book of Mormon every day and has been coming to church every week so he is way solid and is really progressing a ton and has really been a miracle!

     We have also been able to see a lot of our other investigators and Elder Chirstiansen has been picking up everything really good. One thing he is still holding on to is that he really likes to use puns, and not very good ones at that ;),  so we'll see if that goes but for now he is still going strong. This week has been really good and reading the Book of Mormon has been awesome! I am even learning things from the Isaiah Chapters which I usually never do. One thing that really stuck out to me is in 2 Nephi 16:8-12. It is like a conversation Isaiah has with the Lord and the Lord asks who he will send to go for him and Isaiah responds to send him and so the Lord tells him essentially to preach the Gospel and then Isaiah ask how long he wants him to do it for and the Lord tells him to do it until the cities waste away which I think is like his way of saying forever. It really hit me because I will not be a missionary forever but I have been called and we all have and it does not end when the badge is off or the church clothes are hung up but we are called forever and always to share the Gospel. I have been able to learn so much from the Book of Mormon and it is something that has changed my life forever and I hope I will continue to let it do that forever!

Love Elder Slack

We have been able to work really hard and to see some really good success here in Victoria!

    So, this week was pretty crazy being in a Tri but it has been really good! Elder Flood and Elder Evans are both really Awesome and I have known them both for a while. Elder Flood has been in Victoria since I got here and Elder Evans was in Abbotsford when I was there last so I knew them both and it has been a lot of fun being with them. We have been able to work really hard and to see some really good success here in Victoria!

     We saw Ryan as usual and he is doing so good right now! We were able to have a really good lesson with him and about the importance of baptism and how he could grow his faith to completely quit smoking and kick it so that he could get baptized. It was so good and the spirit was really strong and we were able to re-set his baptism date for August 27th and he is really committed to it so we are going to really be working with him to help him get there! 

   We also have a really cool new guy named James who has come to church the last two weeks and we where able to teach him about the plan of salvation this week and it was Awesome! He just soaked everything in so well and has been reading the Book of Mormon and he told us that he feels like his prayers have been answered since he has been reading it so it has been really cool to see the progression he has made even though it has only been two weeks!

     This past week has been really crazy because we do cover two areas but luckily they overlap but it looks like this week will be the same and then next week I am probably gonna get moved to another area for a week in Sidney with Elder Whitney who is actually from Gunison Utah!

Anyways I gotta go!

Love Elder Slack

The Lord promises to bless us and take care of us as we put him first and show our faith!

    Well, this has been a pretty eventful week with a lot of up's and some down's but to just let everyone know I have two new companions now - Elder Flood and Elder Evans because Elder Cowley went home. Not anything that he did wrong or anything he did not clear up before his mission but he was really struggling with his anxiety and it was really starting to effect him in the work and all aspects so he decided to go home to sort it out and plans on coming back. So, it has been an interesting last couple days sorting everything out and figuring out what I am going to be doing for the last 3 weeks of the transfer but it looks like I will be staying in Victoria with YSA Elders who pretty much cover the same area as me so it should work out good!

    

     So this week has been a little crazy to say the least but I am glad that we can just get back to a normal week! We did have some really cool things happen this week though! We found a new investigator named Jasem, he is from Iran, he has been here for a couple years and is a neuro scientist I think I talked about how we found him last week so if you remember back that far you will remember how awesome Jasem is! We were able to teach him a couple of times this week and it was really good but very different because he has no knowledge of Christianity at all so we have had to keep it pretty basic with him but he is very interested in it because he did not agree with many of the teachings that he grew up with and really wanted to learn more about Christ and then he ran into us so pretty much a miracle! We had some really good questions and things that he was wondering if we believed and pretty much everything he asked can be answered by the lessons we teach as missionaries. So he is doing really well and the rest of his family is moving over to Victoria this week so he wants us to meet his wife too! so that was pretty cool! We also found a couple this week too, named Farie and Fahrac (fa-rock) who are Ba hi but are really open to learning and listening and they have met missionaries before so they new a little bit but we where able to teach the restoration to them and they actually knew quite a bit of it and  want to learn more so we will see how that goes.

    Victoria has been amazing and it looks pretty likely that I will be finishing my mission here which I am not upset with at all! I have been able to learn a lot here just all of my areas but here in Victoria I have realized how little time we truly have our missions and how as we put Heavenly Father and what he has asked us to do first then everything will all workout and I guess it is a little easier on a mission but that is a principal that is applicable to everyone. What ever assignment we have been given. The Lord promises to bless us and take care of us as we put him first and show our faith! As we truly trust and Believe what we know to be true. As we believe the Lord when he says "I am bound when you do what I say but when you do not what I say ye have no promise" He is bound to bless us as we are obedient and fulfill and magnify our callings. He has to do it because he is bound to do what he says or he would cease to be God so its a pretty safe bet that he hold his end of the bargain as we do ours. I know, Believe and can testify that this is true that the Lord wants us to be blessed. He wants nothing more than to see us full of joy and happiness and that will happen as we put him first and do the things that will not only bless us but others as well through our service!

Love Elder Slack

The X Men Castle - it is the castle they used in the Xmen movie The new Squad!

New Companions Elder Flood and Elder Evans - a tripanionship once more

We did not even plan to be downtown at that time but we felt that we should go there

   This week was not quite the same as the previous. We where not able to see many of our investigators this week but we where still able to see Ryan and he is doing so good! We were also able to find some really cool potentials that we are going to be teaching this week!

    Ryan is still doing amazing and is still changing a ton! He set a goal to be fully clean by Sunday so we are really praying for him that he can do it! We had a really good lesson this week with him and we taught him about the temple and how we want to not only to be baptized but to also continue on and prepare to go to the temple and it was such a good lesson and he told us how he wants to do that and make it a goal and how he wants to be married and sealed there! It was so Legit!!! He has such a good testimony of the Gospel and how it can change peoples lives! He even brought his cousin to church yesterday! He is pretty much doing everything a member does except he is not baptized but he is a great missionary and pretty much the coolest thing since sliced bread. He is preparing to be baptized in August so I hope that I am still here when he does!

  We also went on an exchange with the YSA Elders this week and I was with Elder Evans in their area and We were in Downtown Victoria and while I was talking to someone another guy came up behind me and just stood there until I finished my conversation and then he just asked me what I was doing so I told him how I was a missionary and how we share a message of Jesus Chirst and then he told me how he wanted to learn more about Jesus Christ and that he had tried to contact a Catholic priest but he never got back to him and then someone told him that "those guys who walk around downtown in white shirts and ties teach people". He said that he did not believe the guy that told him it so he came to see if we really do that and once he saw that is what we were doing he came up and started to talk to me. It was so cool because before this we had been walking around for 35 minutes and had no luck and we did not even plan to be downtown at that time but we felt that we should go there and it was a Miracle! His name is Jasam and he is from Iran and we are going to see him tonight!

Well that is all the time I have but Victoria is about the most beautiful place in BC and I am really loving it here sooo talk to you next week!

Love Elder Slack

{7/18/16} The Gospel was meant to work wonderfully we just need to let it do that!

This week was pretty Crazy but good I am really glad that I get to stay here in Victoria with Elder Cowley. This week was a little trying because Ryan who was our other Baptismal date was not able to quit smoking yet to make his date but a miracle did happen with that! When we saw him and talked to him about it on Friday and we told him that we wanted to help him be fully prepared for his baptism so we where going to help him quit smoking first and the lesson went really well and then later that night he texted us and told us he was going to try to live the word of wisdom fully and he has not done anything it 2 days!! So he is doing really good and is progressing a lot right now and has such a great testimony of the Gospel and has seen how it has changed his life. I have really been blessed to have been able to teach Ryan because he is someone that has been so prepared by the hand of the Lord to hear the Gospel and everything that we have taught him he accepts and prays about. He is doing so good and while we where in Priesthood yesterday the lesson was on temples and Ryan was asking questions about the temple and after the lesson he told us how he wants to go to the temple and that it is one of his goals now after he is baptized! I don't know about you but that was about the coolest thing someone has ever told me here in Victoria! 
   We where able to also find a really cool new investigator named Kyle who Elder Cowley and I found at the beginning of June but he and his family traveled to Whitehorse for a month so we where finally able to see him this last week. We taught him the restoration and it went so well, he had a lot of really good questions about what we taught and soaked it all in really well! He was very excited to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it to know if it is true. He told us that he wanted to check out or church but that this last Sunday he had plans with his family already but that he would come next Sunday. He is very interested and he has a wife and a new son. He wanted to check us out before we met his wife so hopefully we will get to meet his family soon!

  Victoria has been great and has the best weather I have ever seen! The summers here are just a little nicer than the ones in Mesquite, but just a little. I have been thinking a little more about how close my return date is and I don't like it so I am going to do that less! As I was thinking about it I decided to do an activity in Preach my Gospel on page 152, it's the personal study activity and it talks about what you want to be like when you return home and as I was doing it I noticed that there where still some things that I need to change and work on so that I can be as converted and as changed when I actually do go home. In a very simple way of putting it I want to see how wonderfully the Gospel works in my life and do all the things that God asks of me so that I can see how wonderful it is because that is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ are supposed to do. Bring us the most joy and happiness and to also help us fulfill the potential that our Heavenly Father Knows that we have! I have been able to see first hand how it has dramatically changed people's lives and how much they cherish the truth they have learned and It reminds me how much of a privilege I have had to be raised in this Gospel and to enjoy all the truths and blessings of the priesthood and the church in my life. I have been an amazing blessing to have it in my life and to help others apply it into theirs and so see the Atonement work in their life. I really love being a missionary so much the pleasure of having the spirit always with me, which is not exclusive to only missionaries to every member! The Gospel was meant to work wonderfully we just need to let it do that!

Love Elder Slack

I am always amazed at how many miracles and blessings we see as missionaries

This week has been really great! Elder Cowley and I are really getting into a good grove now with teaching! Elder Cowley is starting to get used to the schedule and everything now! We had some really good lessons! The weather here this week was pretty crazy which I have come to know is usual for Victoria. It was 33 degrees at the beginning of the week and by the end it was 19 so it fluctuated a lot and it can never seem to decide what it wants to do but overall it has been good and having a car makes a lot less important if the weather changes.

   We were able to have a few lessons this week with Ryan and Mike. We got the whole apartment thing figured out with Mike and we are going with Mike to check it out on Wednesday! Mike told us if it works out he will set a day to be baptized on then! So we are really hoping and praying that it does work out for him because this is something that he has been waiting for for a long time and now it is finally here so we will be focusing a lot on that this week to see if there is any way that we could help out and continue to support and motivate Mike! We also saw Ryan and he is doing so good! He came to church yesterday even though he got off work late and did not get to have any sleep but he told us that he really wanted to come so he did, even though he was tired. He has really been cutting down on his smoking and is down to 5 a day at the most! It has been so great to teach and work with him because he is someone that I have seen the Gospel change and he has been doing the change by himself! He is changing things as he learns with out reminding or telling him. He has just seen how the Gospel has changed him and how much it has helped him in his life! He is doing so good and is working hard to be baptized on July 22nd! We have seen some really cool miracles this transfer and a lot of good progression from those that we are working with!

 We also did some finding and on Wednesday we found a really cool family this week when we went by a referral who was not home so we decided to stay in the area and knock on some of the houses next to this referral and we talked to a guy named Kyle who just recently had a baby and he and his wife just started to go to a new church but he was really interested in what we were doing and why we were doing it so we talked about what we do and about the restoration and how we have come out to share this message with others because it has helped and changed our lives. We talked to him for a while and he told us to come by on Tuesday and gave us his number and told us to text him to confirm and we did last night and it is all set up! It was such a cool miracle to see that we went there for a reason! 

   I am always amazed at how many miracles and blessings we see as missionaries and how prevalent the hand of God is in our lives and I am sure that it was just a prevalent in my life before my mission but being on a mission has helped me to recognize it more! I have learned how much God does truly love all of us no matter where we have come from or what we have done he loves us no matter what that is the first great truth!

Love Elder Slack

I just really like being a missionary even though it is easily the hardest thing that I have had to do

This week has been pretty crazy mostly because of transfers which always makes a normal week very unknown because of all the things that happen with transfers especially this week with what happened on Saturday which will actually affect this coming week more than last week. So we got transfer calls and found out that Elder Ringheim is going to Delta, which is right next to where I was when I was in Surrey, and that I am going to be training a new missionary. Which means I will have no companion for two days and have to ferry to Vancouver to go pick him up so I am not sure what this week is going to look like but it should be exciting!

  Back to this last week which was really good and we have been able to see a lot of progression in some of our investigators. Ryan who we have been meeting with for the last 4 weeks has been doing really good! He has gone from smoking 40 cigarettes a day to 5! which is amazing and he has been coming to church every week! He has been doing so good and told us he wants to be Baptized and he set a date for July 22 just so he has time to completely quit smoking and so he can be ready to be baptized and he is doing really great and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and has really been applying what he learns, like he started to cut down his smoking even before we taught him the Word of Wisdom because he felt that was something he needed to do before he is Baptized so he is Pretty Awesome!! We are also working with a guy named Lief. Lief, who we met a couple weeks ago and he is doing good he came to church for the first time last week and really liked it and when we met with him after he told us he feels like he should be baptized so we set a date with him as well for June 25th! He really wants to be baptized so he is progressing to it!

  Elder Ringheim and I have really been able to see a lot of cool miracles this transfer and I am really sad to see him leave but it has been a good time and I got to learn a little bit of Danish but I can not pronounce anything right so it probably will not be much help but it sounds cool! I am really excited to stay here in Victoria! The weather here is Amazing and the people we are working with are doing really good. I just really like being a missionary even though it is easily the hardest thing that I have had to do and it has made me change a lot but it has been a good change and that change really comes from applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ into our lives and seeing the miracles that can happen from it. Sometimes that change is really hard and is something that we do not think we can do and that's probably right if it was just us but its not we have Christ on our side and through Christ anything that we are asked to do can be done! I have learned that personally and am still learning it everyday that I have to go talk to people on the street in Downtown Victoria but some how each day I do it and it is because Christ is there every step of the way through anything!

Love Elder Slack

{5/9/16} Elder Ringheim and I have been exploring a lot more of Victoria than we thought we would

This week has been Good and Crazy mostly because we have been trying to go to different places in our area which does not sound like it would be that crazy but when you have to get there by bus and you don't know how to get there by bus it makes it a very interesting journey especally if you miss your bus or the bus you are on does not get you exactly where you thought it did at all. So needless to say Elder Ringheim and I have been exploring a lot more of Victoria than we thought we would.

   We have been able to find a few new people to teach this week though! On Tuesday we texted a bunch of the potentials that we have in our phone that we did not know and a few of them responded back, one of which was a lady named Hyung Hee,or Stephanie because she is Korean and so she picked an English name, but we did not know she was a lady. So we set up to meet Hyung Hee at the church but when she got there and realized that she was a lady and not a guy we had to go talk to her outside, because as missionaries we cannot be alone with a sister, so we talked to her about the Book of Mormon and told her about the sisters in our ward and how she could meet with them so we passed her info to the sisters and they were able to meet with her a couple days later and she came to church with her son yesterday! It was amazing so see how the Lord really does prepare his children to hear the Gospel and to be receptive to it! We also had a less active and his son, who is 10 and not baptized, come to church for the 2nd week in a row! We were able to talk to them and Brother Lott invited us to come over for dinner and to teach his son Cameron because Cameron has been pushing his dad to come to church so it was really Awesome to see them there! Also Brother Lott owns a resturant called La Belle Patate which is French for The Beautiful Potato and it is so Good! He makes the Best Poutine I have ever had!! We have been going there pretty regularly and have talked to Brother Lott quite a bit so we could build a good relationship with him and help reactivate him and baptize his son. 

  Victoria has been amazing and a lot of fun and it has also helped me get out of my comfort zone a lot more too but it helps that the weather here is Awesome and the ocean is not too far away! I am very grateful that I have had this opportunity to serve a mission and that I still have 5 months to give in this marvelous work! Also Skyping home was Awesome! Happy Late Mothers Day to all the Moms out there!! 

Love Elder Slack

Miracles still do exist as long as we have faith

Well, this week was really good and a lot less stressful than last week because I am finally starting to figure out the bus system here and District Meeting went well and our investigators are starting to get back to us so this week which was really good! 

         To start off the week we got to see Khaled on Monday and teach him more about the Book of Mormon and then we got to see him on Thursday and give him a church tour and show him the restoration and while we were teaching him we asked him why he continues to meet with us, because he does read a little bit but he never seems to be fully engaged in the few lessons that we have had with him. He told us that he is trying to make friends since he is new to Victoria. So, sadly it turns out that he is not very interested in learning more but just wants to meet new people and make friends so we invited him to some of the activities that the church is putting on but we probably will not be teaching him anymore. 

         We had a really cool miracle happen this week too! While the sisters in our ward where contacting in a park they met this guy Tim, who they were prompted to go talk to, and as they did they told him as missionaries that we teach people lessons and so he told them that he would be interested in hearing one of their lessons. So they taught him the restoration in the park and gave him a Book of Mormon! That night they gave us his number and we called him the next day and were able to see him that day! We gave him a church tour and shared more about the Book of Mormon. It was such a good lesson and he told us how recently he has felt like there was something missing in his life and very recently he has felt that thing is God so he was thinking about getting God more in his life and then the sisters met him and he believes that was a sign that he should look into this path to see if it is the right one. He told us how if we would have met him just a couple months ago he probably would have never met with us but because of what has happened in his life it has prepared him to be open and willing to search for God! It was such a good lesson and it is amazing to see how God prepares his children to hear the restored Gospel and how he softens people’s hearts!

         We were also able to go see a part member family where the two boys in the family are baptized but their mom is not because she has not been able to give up smoking. They used to be pretty regular at church but for the last while they have not been coming so we went and saw them on Saturday night and they came to church on Sunday! We also had a less active member, Matti, come to church with his son Cameron and they came all by their self. It was awesome because Cameron is 10 and has not been baptized so we have been trying to get in to meet with them and they just randomly showed up to church! So Miracles still do exist as long as we have faith.

  This week has been really good and we have been able to see a lot of great things happen in our area! It also does not help that Victoria is beautiful and the weather here is amazing! Especially with the breeze off the Ocean! Pretty amazing place to be in the summer!

Love Elder Slack

Last look of Kelowna before leaving for Victoria

Will in Kelowna

Will & Elder Frye before Will leaves for Victoria

Legislative Building in Victoria (capitol of BC)

Will & his new companion Elder Ringheim in front of the Legislative Bldg in Victoria

Views from James Bay

{4/24/16} I have been able to get out of my comfort zone a lot here

Well another crazy week on the Mish. It has been a pretty crazy week like it always is with transfers. Monday was pretty normal though. We got invited to an empty nesters FHE and had some really good food. I got to say good bye to quite a few of the members in Kelowna and then we went and saw Dez and taught him about the Book of Mormon and really emphasized him reading it to find out for himself and that was pretty much my last night in Kelowna. On Tuesday I left and flew down to Vancouver with Elder McCown, who also got transferred after only one transfer in Kelowna. So we flew down and I got picked up and driven to the ferry but I got there too early so I had to sit outside the ticket office for 20 minutes before I could buy a ticket and wait for the ferry to come and then I took the 2 hour ferry ride to Victoria by myself which was pretty boring but the ferry does have good poutine so that made it ok. It was a pretty uneventful ride except I got to see some killer whales while riding on it so that was pretty cool. Then I finally got to Victoria at 5pm and I met Elder Ringheim there with the Zone leaders and then we got dropped off at the church to go teach a lesson to a guy named Paul who Elder Ringheim has been teaching for the last couple weeks and he wants to be baptized and he comes to church a couple times but just needs to quit smoking which is easier said than done but we were able to make a plan with him so that he could over come it and begin the process to quit. 

   Victoria has been very different from other areas that I have served in, one big difference is that we do not have a car...we just have bus passes so that has made it a lot more interesting but luckily Elder Ringheim knows the bus system pretty good so I rely on him a lot to know what bus we need to catch and when it would get there so that has made it a lot of fun. Also Victoria is a pretty big city and we cover the down town so we get to meet a lot of interesting people here especially when we go to the down town. It has been really fun though a lot of people especially members have gotten a kick out of my last name. Most people think that it is pretty funny  but sometimes we meet people on the street who think that it is my first name so the are usually very confused why someone would name their son Slack but good because it is usually a good conversion starter.

   I have been able to learn a lot here and I have been able to get out of my comfort zone a lot here because everything here is very different than what I am used to and it has caused me to have to do things that I would not be comfortable doing but that is where that growth comes from and I am learning a lot here and relearning a lot here too. Victoria is also a very beautiful place and the weather here is amazing so I am pretty lucky that I got here right before summer! Also a really cool thing is that Elder Bonfield, one of my old companions ,lives in Victoria now so I get to see him quite a bit!

 Well I got to go but....Love you bye!

Elder Slack

I finally got to Kelowna and it has been great!

This week has been really crazy. To start off with transfers and on Monday Elder Hunter and I had to pack and clean the whole apartment because two new Elders were coming in that week and then we had to write what felt like a thousand notes so that they knew what was going on in the area with our investigators and all the info about the area so that they could pick up right where we left off. So Monday was really hectic, then we were told that we needed to stay with the Abby 1st Elders on Monday night so that Elder Hunter could leave with Elder Evans, who is in Abby 1st, early in the morning and catch their flights at the Airport in Vancouver and some Elders from Chiliwack were staying the night at the same place so needless to say we did not sleep very good that night. Then Elder Hunter had to leave at 5am so he got up at 4:15 and him and Elder Evans were not the quietest people so they woke everyone up but once they left it was all normal until 10 then Elder Sharp, one of the Elders in Chiliwack, and I had to drive to Vancouver airport to go pick up some other missionaries and we had no idea where we were going and we ended up at a private airport in Vancouver but eventually we found it and it turned out that the Elders flight was delayed for almost an hour so we were waiting there for a while then they finally got in and we had to drive them back to the Mission Office and we were supposed to stay there until some other missionaries came and picked us up to take us back to the Airport but while we were there President Burt showed up and told Elder Sharp that he should go get a hair cut so we had to go get Elder Sharp a haircut and then finally we got picked up at 3:30 and got to airport but I had to wait for 3 hours at the airport by myself until my flight at 6:30 and then my flight was delayed until 6:50 so I did not get to Kelowna until 8:15 so it was a pretty crazy day. 

  Then finally I got to Kelowna and it has been great! The weather here has been awesome. So hopefully I do not have to see much more rain for the rest of my mission. We had some really good lessons this week with some recent converts and some less actives that are coming back to church. We have also had a lot of investigators tell us that they do not want to meet with us anymore so it has been a really interesting week with a lot of trials and it has been kind of hard but I was studying this morning and I was going to look up something in the topical guide and I came across refine and refinement and so I read the scriptures and most of them were on how the Lord refines us for good and everything that he does is for our good. I came across the story of Alma the older and his people in Mosiah 24 and how they were persecuted and they were told if they prayed out loud they would be killed and so they prayed in their hearts and it talks about how the Lord did not take their trials away but that he strengthened them to make their burdens light so that they were able to bear the trials that they were given and eventually God did remove them from their trials. It taught me a lot about how a lot of times God does not take challenges away but he will make them manageable as long as we rely on him because if we are not obedient to him and his commandments then he can not help us to make our burdens light but as we live the gospel and do what we are supposed to all the trials with be for our good because just like Nephi says the Lord gives no commandment save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them and it is the same for our trials too. As we trust in God he will help us and support us in everything that we do.

Love Elder Slack

It is a lot easier to do the hard things that are required of us from our Father in Heaven when we truly love the Lord and love the people that we are serving

This week has been really good! The weather is finally starting to get better, it has been raining less and not as hard so I have been enjoying walking around a lot more than the last couple of weeks. Our teaching pool has been shrinking a little bit just because people are not progressing right now and some of our investigators are out of town for a while and a bunch of other reasons so we have really been trying to focus on find new people to teach and to really share the Gospel with people because we love them and because it truly is something that we love and cherish and something that will help others in their lives. I have found that when I really talk to people and share this unique message that we have out of love and because I love the Lord and the Gospel and want others to have the Joy that I have had come from it that people. It is a lot easier to do the hard things that are required of us from our Father in Heaven when we truly love the Lord and love the people that we are serving. 

   We have had some really cool miracles that happened is that we got some really good referrals from our members! One of our members called us and asked if we had a dinner appointment and invited us over for dinner and one of their friends that just moved into their basement was talking to one of the people that she works with and she was telling him about the church and what she does there and he was asking her why she was so happy and she told him it was because of what she believed and he is really looking for something in his life so she told him about us and how we love to share a message of happiness and she asked if we could come over to tell him more about it and he said we could. So we went over there yesterday and told him about the Atonement and Repentance and how he can find that happiness in his life. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and he was very eager to read and to see if this is something that can help him in his life. It was so cool and he is someone who is definatly prepared by the Lord to hear the Gospel. His name is Dan.

  Then we got another awesome referral that we are going to see this week. The family that gave it to us, the Adams, told us how they met RJ and he actually came up to them and asked if they where religious because he noticed that they were different and he told them that he is looking for a church and can't seem to find the right one and he wants to learn more about what we believe. 

 It has been such a good week but transfers are next week and we get calls this Saturday so hopefully I can stay in Abby for another transfer. I guess I'll find out this week.

Love Elder Slack

Loving the people that we teach will help us become the best teachers we can be

 This week was great! It was a little harder to see people that it usually is but  things still worked out it just took a little more effort than normal but we where able to see most of the people that we are teaching. We had a couple that we started teaching 4 weeks ago came to church yesterday and it was so awesome! Their names are Mathew and Crystal  and they loved Church which was good because we had a combined priesthood relief society meeting and we discused the ward mission plan and they where not confused or weirded so as long as we get through fast sunday with them everything should be good! We went and stopped by after church and talked to them about how they liked it and they told us they really enjoyed it and they loved the classes and then crystal told us how she has been going online and chating with missionaries on mormon.org and asking questions and she has really enjoyed it! They are so cool. They told us how they are going to 100 mile house, which is like 8 hours north of Abbotsford, and we told them that we had a church up there too and they told us that they wanted to go to our church while that they are up there. 

  

  We were also able to see Joel this week and Elder Hunter and I  have really been focusing on helping people progress and we really wanted to help Joel to keep progressing since he came to church last week and so we had planed to talk about Baptism and priesthood Authority because he has been struggling with believing that there is only one true church but when we went there we ended up teaching Repentance and found out that he has really been struggling with forgiving him self and is not sure where he will go after this life so we talked a lot about how God will forgive us and how that is what he wants to do because he loves us so if we repent he will forgive as long as we are sincere. It was a really good lesson and the spirit was very strong and it was really great! He commited to pray to know if God forgives him of the things that he has done in the past. 

  

   I also was studying charity this week because we had a fireside with President Burt's family and one of the things that one of his sons talked about is how loving the people that we teach will help us become the best teachers we can be because if we love the people we will want to do everything that to help them progress. So I have been studying Charity to help my teaching and when we taught Joel we really focused on loving him and showing him that we really care about him and want the best for him and it was so awesome! It was one of the best lessons that we had with him and I have had on my mission all because of the love that we showed him!

   The only thing that was not that fun this week was that it rained everyday this week. I don't think I have ever seen it rain everyday for a whole week in my life so that was a mile stone for me. Besides that nothing crazy happened this week.

Love Elder Slack

I Love Abbotsford!

This week was so great! We were able to see most of our investigators and were also able to find a few new ones.

 We were able to see most of our investigators this week. We were able to see Luyi who is a home stay student and is staying with one of the families in our ward. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was really good. He asked a lot of questions about baptism and the need of authority and it went really well. He is really thinking about baptism right now but he wants to make sure that is what he should do so we will continue to teach him and to help him build his faith. 

We also got to see Gord who is doing really good. We were able to find a good member who was able to connect with him and we had a really good lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he committed to come to church and He came! We have been trying to get him to church all transfer and he came with his two kids and it was great! The kids really enjoyed primary and he really enjoyed church and finally started to read the Book of Mormon too. So he is doing really great! We have seen some good progress from the last couple weeks from him.

We have also been able to find some really cool people recently and we were able to see one of them last night after our specialized training. His name is Joel and he was really interested in the Book of Mormon so we were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon last night and it was really good. He really wants to change his life around and is trying to forgive himself for things that he has done in the past so we are helping him know how to do that. 

   We have seen a lot of success this last week and have been able to see a lot of people and to teach a ton! I Love Abbotsford and I am really glad that I got sent back here and got to spend some more time here. Hopefully I don't get sent somewhere else in a couple weeks when transfer comes again.

Yeah, it snows a lot here in Canada

   Well not too much else to report except it snowed here again! not much stayed and it is mostly slush now but it did stay for a little bit so I did get some snow in my last Christmas in Canada. Well I gotta go!

Love, Elder Slack

I know that I am just a 19 year old punk who probably does not know what he is talking about most of the time but this is something that I do know that this message that we carry as members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is true and is meant for everyone!

This Week has been really cold and when I say cold I mean like -2 Celsius which is a lot colder when you are walking around in it all day. It has not rained all week and it has been very sunny too but it has been very cold and we have had some bad luck in the cold, like on Saturday we did not drive our car so we took the bus to our dinner appointment in Cloverdale which is like 20 blocks from where we live and when left our appointment we ran to the bus stop because we thought we might miss it but we got there and we saw the Bus, but the bus just drove right past us and did not even stop so we had to wait for 30 minutes for the next one and so we went and knocked on doors and when we were heading back we decided to take a way we thought would be faster but it ended up not going anywhere so we were running back the way we came and we were 50 feet away when the bus drove by us so we had to walk home and it took like an hour so it was a pretty interesting night but we ended up getting back in time for an appointment we had at 8 with a less active. So there is the crazy story for the week.

  

  We have seen a lot of cool experiences lately like we were dropping by someone and decide to knock on a door and this really old man answered and let us in and we found out that he fought in World War 2 and was one of the first on the ground right after D Day and that he had just received a  metal of honor from the French government. We also knocked on a less active's door and his room mate answered and let us in and told us that the member had passed away a few days ago and then we found out that the guy we were talking to was also a less active member so we have been teaching him. 

  We have also been teaching Barry and he has been doing really good but he is just struggling with quitting smoking but he has been reading and has been consistantly coming to church so he has been doing good. Him and his wife are planning on moving in January so they probably will not be in our ward for much longer and will probably will get baptized in the ward they move into. 

 Not too much else has happened this week but I have been studying in Mosiah and about Abinadi. I don't know if you remember but last year when I was first out I had just learned about Abinadi and it blew my mind! and its doing it again. I love the Book of Mormon. When I was home I thought it was boring and I got nothing out if it but on my mission I think that has been what's changed me the most and what I have seen change others the most. The Book of Mormon is more than just another book or something that we have added to the Bible. It is revelation that our loving Father in Heaven has saved for us in this time so that we may know where to look for a remission of our sins, so that we can know that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith is a prophet that was called by God that that there is still a prophet on the Earth today and that God still speaks to his Children because he loves us so much. This Gospel is a gospel of Love and it was given to us because our Father in Heaven loves us and cares what happens to us and where we go. I am so grateful for this gospel and for what it has brought me. I don't want to sound cheesy but it is something that has changed me and it has changed many others! I know that I am just a 19 year old punk who probably does not know what he is talking about most of the time but this is something that I do know that this message that we carry as members of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is true and is meant for everyone! 

Love Elder Slack